So I'll be honest, I don't really know much about the Cold War. Growing up, I was surrounded by culture that described Russian as our evil archenemy but never really knew why. All I know is that it was the world's longest Mexican Standoff ever. Where after WW2, America and Russia just kind of stood tensely, hand on our guns, waiting for the other person to make a move.

I've heard terms used by older people that I never really knew the meaning of - like "Red China" and "commie spy." The term "mutually assured destruction" was basically coined because of the projected results if either nation attacked. I understood that there was some suspicion of Russian spies at some point in our history, but never knew why or what it was referring to. I never really knew why it was so important that America beat the Russians into space.

I'm looking to learn more about the Cold War. Does anyone have a good book suggestion? One that isn't tainted by American bias? I'm starting to wonder just how much the Cold War shaped America. Religion gained its political foothold by using a 50 year stretch of terror, where to be "without patriotism and God" was to be a communist spy, like a modern day witch hunt. The CIA was involved in jaw dropping amounts of overseas manipulation, having its hand in several regime changes in multiple countries. The entire Cuba crisis. The Korean War. We became allies with countries specifically because of their relationship with the Soviet Union, sort of like trying to get more friends on our side.

American society was soooo heavily influenced by the Cold War, and yet I never hear anyone talk about it. Like ever. There are people older than me that lived through ALL of this madness, and yet I literally never hear about it.

Cold War, discuss.

"Ain't got no last words to say, yellow streak right up my spine. The gun in my mouth was real and the taste blew my mind."

"We see you cry. We turn your head. Then we slap your face. We see you try. We see you fail. Some things never change."

The Cold War was certainly an interesting period in world history. Would biggest game of blind Chess, if you ask me.

Unfortunately, I don't know any decent, unbiased sources to read.

Maybe in a few months.

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"Anti-environmentalism is like standing in front of a forest and going 'quick kill them they're coming right for us!'" - Jake Farr-Wharton, The Imaginary Friend Show.

(24-01-2013 04:50 AM)Buddy Christ Wrote: So I'll be honest, I don't really know much about the Cold War. Growing up, I was surrounded by culture that described Russian as our evil archenemy but never really knew why. All I know is that it was the world's longest Mexican Standoff ever. Where after WW2, America and Russia just kind of stood tensely, hand on our guns, waiting for the other person to make a move.

I've heard terms used by older people that I never really knew the meaning of - like "Red China" and "commie spy." The term "mutually assured destruction" was basically coined because of the projected results if either nation attacked. I understood that there was some suspicion of Russian spies at some point in our history, but never knew why or what it was referring to. I never really knew why it was so important that America beat the Russians into space.

I'm looking to learn more about the Cold War. Does anyone have a good book suggestion? One that isn't tainted by American bias? I'm starting to wonder just how much the Cold War shaped America. Religion gained its political foothold by using a 50 year stretch of terror, where to be "without patriotism and God" was to be a communist spy, like a modern day witch hunt. The CIA was involved in jaw dropping amounts of overseas manipulation, having its hand in several regime changes in multiple countries. The entire Cuba crisis. The Korean War. We became allies with countries specifically because of their relationship with the Soviet Union, sort of like trying to get more friends on our side.

American society was soooo heavily influenced by the Cold War, and yet I never hear anyone talk about it. Like ever. There are people older than me that lived through ALL of this madness, and yet I literally never hear about it.

Cold War, discuss.

Russia wanted concessions after WW2 and they just kinda took...They insisted on keeping half of Berlin...
Look at the McCarthy hearings, those started in the 50s right after the war and the "red scare" All that seems to be from a comment that Stalin made that he would infiltrate the US and take it over from within. We developed the atom bomb -- which was obviously destructive and that's a lot of power for one country to have. When Russia developed their own (shortly after) suddenly America was terrified that another country who didn't seem to share their values could cause harm to a great number of people. That led to an arms race....

The cold war did fuel some good things, the space race comes to mind -- which did push the US to develop better technologies.

As for books without an american slant...I'm really not sure -- i know I read a biopic about Stalin but I honestly don't recall who wrote the book.

(24-01-2013 05:20 AM)Free Thought Wrote: The Cold War was certainly an interesting period in world history. Would biggest game of blind Chess, if you ask me.

Speaking as someone who actually plays and enjoys blindfold chess, I can state unequivocally that it was nothing like it.

Rocky vs. Drago? Please. Fun movie, didn't happen.

Speaking of chess, you know what really did happen? Fischer vs. Spassky, the 1972 world chess championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. Chess you say? Who cares? But it was the height of the cold war. The current world champion, a Russian named Boris Spassky, had won the title in 1969 and would be defending it against an American challenger, Robert James "Bobby" Fischer. East meets West. Would dogged communism prevail over reckless capitalism?

Chess is not a terribly highly watched event. Not even the world championships. Hell, I love chess and earn some of my living from it, but even I don't watch the current world championship matches.

But in 1972, two world superpowers collided for seven weeks over a battlefield consisting of 32 soldiers slugging it out on a battlefield of 64 black and white squares and the whole world watched. Never before and never since has chess drawn even a fraction of that kind of audience.

Fischer won quite convincingly, but the strain on him was tremendous. After the match, he withdrew from competitive chess, more or less forever - the only world champion to ever abdicate his title. Spassky continued playing, but he wasn't Russia's golden child anymore and they applied their funding and support to other Russian grandmasters; without that support, Spassky never returned to championship level play, though he did nearly qualify in some Candidates matches over the next few years.

Odd as it sounds, that chess match was a strange microcosm of the entire cold war.

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(24-01-2013 05:20 AM)Free Thought Wrote: The Cold War was certainly an interesting period in world history. Would biggest game of blind Chess, if you ask me.

Speaking as someone who actually plays and enjoys blindfold chess, I can state unequivocally that it was nothing like it.

Rocky vs. Drago? Please. Fun movie, didn't happen.

Speaking of chess, you know what really did happen? Fischer vs. Spassky, the 1972 world chess championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. Chess you say? Who cares? But it was the height of the cold war. The current world champion, a Russian named Boris Spassky, had won the title in 1969 and would be defending it against an American challenger, Robert James "Bobby" Fischer. East meets West. Would dogged communism prevail over reckless capitalism?

Chess is not a terribly highly watched event. Not even the world championships. Hell, I love chess and earn some of my living from it, but even I don't watch the current world championship matches.

But in 1972, two world superpowers collided for seven weeks over a battlefield consisting of 32 soldiers slugging it out on a battlefield of 64 black and white squares and the whole world watched. Never before and never since has chess drawn even a fraction of that kind of audience.

Fischer won quite convincingly, but the strain on him was tremendous. After the match, he withdrew from competitive chess, more or less forever - the only world champion to ever abdicate his title. Spassky continued playing, but he wasn't Russia's golden child anymore and they applied their funding and support to other Russian grandmasters; without that support, Spassky never returned to championship level play, though he did nearly qualify in some Candidates matches over the next few years.

Odd as it sounds, that chess match was a strange microcosm of the entire cold war.

I remember that.....vaguely i was pretty (coughs) young....my dad loved chess snd ahowed me how to play it around that time (i was never any good at it). The whole world was watching chess....weird but your right! It was very much like the whole world was riding on that game.

One of the main reasons often attributed to the adoption of "In God We Trust" on our (America's) currency is the tense environment created by the Cold War. We replaced the quite awesome E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one) with the silly and not at all accurate "In God We Trust," all because of our desire to be seen as "anti-commie god lovers"?

"Ain't got no last words to say, yellow streak right up my spine. The gun in my mouth was real and the taste blew my mind."

"We see you cry. We turn your head. Then we slap your face. We see you try. We see you fail. Some things never change."